


Brothers in arms

by Thefourteenth



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Magnus is Prime's older brother, Megatron is just a major dick in this, Psychological Torture, Torture, lot's and lot's of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-03-19 23:38:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3628512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thefourteenth/pseuds/Thefourteenth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ultra Magnus finally reaches earth, he expects to be greeted by his brother Optimus Prime. Instead he is told that Prime has been missing for a year and two months. Presumed dead by the human government, the rest of the bots have been forced to move on, unable to attain the resources and the support they need to continue searching. <br/>That is, until they receive a message...from Megatron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrivals

Never had such a clear, calm, beautiful morning seemed so sad and lonely. Ratchet silently watched as the sun breached over the horizon, this planet had such short solar cycles, but he could hardly find it in himself to care when every couple of short hours he was able to witness the sunrise again. It led the belief of a new beginning, a fresh, clean start. Sadly, this sunrise was unknowingly deceptive, and while Ratchet enjoyed the view, he wasn’t watching the horizon for personal reasons.   
Earlier that morning, before even the whispers of a sunrise had tinted the sky, the humans had picked up an object breaching their space perimeter. A quick, multichannel message later the vessel was identified as the Lost Light, which was captioned by Ultra Magnus. Ratchet almost wished it were deceptions instead.   
A few measly human hours later, when the temperature had incrementally increased and the sunrise had blossomed into a more substantial source of light, the tired medic spotted a dark spot push through the atmosphere. The Lost Light’s engines cracked as it smacked against the sound barrier and lowered towards the hard earth, a while away from Ratchet. As the medic strode towards the hull doors, he prepared his processor for the reactions of his comrades; it was not going to be pretty, and he feared it would bring up bad memories for himself.   
The imposing blue frame of Ultra Magnus walked confidently out of his ship.   
‘Greetings Ratchet, it has been a long time’ Magnus rumbled,  
Clasping his fist over his chest in a traditional greeting, Ratchet replied, ‘Hello Ultra Magnus, the autobots have grieved your absence’   
The blue mech huffed slightly; the closest he had ever been seen to laugh. ‘I doubt that validity of this statement, but it is appreciated none the less’   
It was then that Magnus looked around, his optic ridges furrowing slightly, as if he expected some more autobots to jump out from behind a rock.   
‘Where is your base located?’ he intoned,  
‘We are currently located at San Diego, the base was provided by this planet's life forms, humans, they have been most helpful in providing us with resources.’ Ratchet responded, with the air of someone reciting a rather boring report, ‘In return we have helped with some of their domestic issues’.   
The larger mech nodded slightly, and then took out a small device from his subspace; with a click the hull doors of the Lost Light closed and sealed.   
‘I presume it is acceptable to leave my ship here for the time being’ Magnus asked, turning slightly towards the Lost Light, to consider it’s size and predisposition to draw attention to itself.   
Ratchet nodded absent-mindedly. Ultra Magnus eyed the medic out of the corner of his optic, his noticeable mood change was…troubling, to say in the least.   
The shorter mech shook his helm slightly, ‘If you will follow me I can lead you to the base’, and then promptly transformed and started driving. 

The trip was short, but interesting for Ultra Magnus, mainly because of the interesting flora and fauna his scanners picked up, but there would be time for sight seeing later, for now he had to address his Prime and brother. He had not seen his younger sibling, Optimus Prime, for many vorns, and while he would not admit it, he missed him greatly. While the young Primes mission of locating the All-Spark was of the utmost importance, he selfishly admitted to himself that he would prefer for his brother to stay firmly at his side. Optimus had a tendency to draw danger towards him, and his self-sacrificing disposition made it hard for Magnus to keep him safe. It seemed that this tendency only increased in regularity and size as his young brother grew.   
A quiet beep from his scanners brought Magnus out of his musings to alert him of the multiple autobot signatures it was registering. Ratchet pulled up ahead of him and transformed into his root mode, walking swiftly towards the entrance of a building. Magnus followed suit, but was interrupted from actually entering the building by a yell by his foot.   
‘Hi!’ Sam Witwicky waved up at the new bot. Sam was struck with the obvious likeness the new autobot had to Optimus, and the fact that he might even be taller than the Prime. Before dwelling too long on that train of thought, Sam called up, ‘My name’s Sam, welcome to NEST’.   
The blue bot bent down slightly, ‘You are one of the indigenous life forms?’   
Sam nodded, ‘Yep, human and proud. You probably haven’t had the proper introduction speech yet’   
Magnus shook his helm slightly.   
‘Since Ratchet seems to have disappeared I’ll lead you to Captain Lennox, he’s in charge of the humans on this base. Well, technically he’s not at the top of the food chain, but no one really disputes him’ Still rattling off about Lennox and his supposed, but not real power on the base Sam walked past the hanger doors and towards the area of the base reserved for human-bot formal meetings. Ultra Magnus followed behind the tiny human, one that seemed so confident greeting a Cybertronian had to know how the base was run. They reached a secluded part of the base with a number of screens set up on top of silver scaffolding, Magnus watched as Sam scampered up a flight of stairs, putting him at almost shoulder level with the blue bot. Sam tapped on the shoulder of one of the men standing on the scaffolding and whispered something to him, the man turned around, a soldier Magnus presumed, and greeted him. Magnus saw Sam retreat back down the scaffolding and leave the area.   
‘Welcome to NEST, I am Major William Lennox, in charge of the human sector of NEST.’ Magnus nodded in greeting. The next hour was spent explaining the inner workings of NEST, including the chain of command, living quarters, strike teams, training times etc. All of this information was carefully and meticulously filed away in Magnus’ processor, he knew that he would be consulting these ‘ground rules’ on more than one occasion.   
‘That just about sums it up, are there any questions’ Major Lennox said, sticking his hands in his pockets, his strict nature dripping away at the conclusion of his lecture, making him look far more relaxed.   
‘Just one’, Magnus paused, ‘Where is Optimus Prime?’   
Lennox suddenly looked uncomfortable, he opened and closed his mouth a few times, and with each attempt at speech Magnus’ optics narrowed more and grew in intensity.   
Finally Lennox closed his eyes and took a breath, opening them, his strict soldier persona returned, setting like concrete.   
‘The Autobot leader…ah, your leader, Optimus Prime, was reported missing in action one year and two months ago following an organized decepticon attack. After 7 months of search efforts with no results, the American government called off the search, announcing that Optimus Prime should be assumed killed in battle. We offer our condolences’ Cracks appeared in Lennox’s soldier persona as he nervously waited for a response from the large bot.   
One auditory final twitched on Ultra Magnus’ helm,   
‘My brother is MISSING?’


	2. First contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for chapter 2!   
> A big thank you to; Ashion, WickedHumor and ScreamingPrimal for leaving kudos, it is truly a massive confidence booster and gives me a big dose of motivation. 
> 
> Thank you and please enjoy. 
> 
> Warning: There is torture in this chapter, it starts and ends with Megatrons message.

Ultra Magnus advanced towards the scaffolding, leaning over Lennox, ‘Why was I not informed?’ The blue bot growled out in barely controlled rage.   
‘We…are’ Lennox swallowed, ‘Optimus is your brother?’ The railing to Lennox’s right was crushed in Magnus’ grip with a screech of metal.   
‘Yes you foolish meat bag’ Magnus’ engine was roaring in his chassis, shunting hot air into Lennox’s face, his flimsy control over his rage was evident in every taunt cable and slightly vibrating panel on Magnus’ frame.   
Before Lennox had time to duck out of the way, or else become a stain on the floor, a voice cut through the tension in the air.   
‘Ultra Magnus, control your self’ Ratchet intoned, with a tint of resignation.   
Magnus rounded on the shorter medic, ‘I will when this incompetence is explained, in detail. Optimus is not killed in battle until I say he is’.   
For his part, Ratchet neither flinched nor retreated from Ultra Magnus’ imposing and aggressive frame.   
‘Our troops and resources are stretched thin, there are little autobots left on this planet, and fewer still that would have the ability to locate Optimus’ Ratchet said calmly, looking up at Magnus’ face, ‘We searched, and we searched’ Ratchet quietly said, voice tinged with static ‘but we could not find him, nor any trace of him. Lack of results were not appealing to the American government, and they refused to further fund our searches’   
Magnus’ armor rippled across his back, ‘He has been missing for 1 year and two months, that’s little more than…’ Magnus paused as he considered the length of time, ‘a couple months on Cybertron!’   
‘Humans live shorter lives, and as such, don’t spend much time, or our conception of time, on anyone thing, in there eyes, they gave a valiant effort searching for a sovereign leader, but they have fulfilled their political obligations.’ Ratchet stated emotionlessly, to even the untrained eye, it was obvious that Ratchet had all but engraved this explanation onto his chassis, in an attempt to accept it.   
Magnus slumped slightly, ‘But he is still alive, I can feel it in my Spark’   
At his admission, Ratchet faltered slightly, ‘If he is still alive, he is being interrogated, tortured most likely by Megatron himself. But since we have yet to be attacked at our base, he hasn’t given us away’ Ratchet reset his vocalizer, ‘but there isn’t anything we can do for him’.   
Ultra Magnus didn’t move for a few moments, as he seemed to consider this information. Suddenly straightening into an imposing stance, Magnus stated, ‘My ship has technology that could improve the scanners within this base, I will search for Optimus myself’ and then turned on his heel and walked out of the base.   
Lennox watched the blue bot go then turned to Ratchet, pinching the bridge of his nose he said, ‘Why was it never mentioned that Prime had a brother?’   
Ratchet shrugged, ‘We were unsure as to when Ultra Magnus would arrive on earth, it could have been within the year, or within the century. Telling you information that might have not have even relevant in your lifetime seemed unnecessary.’ After a pause Ratchet added, ‘and Optimus was hesitant to disclose information that could infer the idea of a liability within his ranks’.   
Lennox fixed Ratchet with a gaze, ‘Liability?’   
‘Deceptions have on past occasions used Magnus as bait in an attempt to capture Optimus, it has been ineffective, but might have placed undue unease amongst your government’ Ratchet smoothly responded, Lennox wondered whether this explanation had been used multiple times, or just prepared earlier. 

Hours past, the sun settled steadily in the center of the sky and most of the humans and bots retreated to inside of the base to avoid the harsh sun. A couple of hours passed before finally Magnus returned, dragging a hunk of metal behind him, seemingly from the butchered husk of his ship. A few humans watched with curiosity as Magnus transformed, picked up the metal and strode into the base, heading straight to their main terminal.   
After a couple of moments of consideration, Magnus dismantled half of the console and integrated the tech from his ship into the existing mainframe. The interested crowd of humans slowly dwindled, a few bored Autobots wondered by occasionally and watched with a sorrowful look on their optics before continuing on. The cause of the sudden remodeling was obvious to everyone on the base, as news of Lennox’s altercation with Ultra Magnus spread quickly, along with the knowledge that Prime had a brother.   
It was well into the night by the time Ultra Magnus finished, and once the machine powered up, Ultra Magnus stayed by its side for the remainder of the night, watching it search for Optimus’ unique spark signature.   
As the sun once again rose on the horizon, Ratchet pulled Magnus away from his sentry station to refuel and hopefully rest.   
This process continued for almost a week. While other Autobots were called away on some human business, Ultra Magnus never left his position of watching the computer scan for Optimus, as if through willpower alone he could locate his lost brother.   
It was nearing the end of the week and Lennox was being pestered by his higher ups to integrate Ultra Magnus into their training simulations, with the goal of having him fill the lost Primes tactical position. However, before Lennox even had the chance to raise this insistent request with Ratchet, let alone Ultra Magnus, the Autobot base received a message.   
The message was broadcasted on an open Autobot frequency, used to send encrypted files. Bumblebee managed to find the transmission, calling an impromptu meeting of Ratchet, Magnus, Ironhide and Lennox to view the message.   
‘Hello Autobots, long time no see’   
While they hadn’t heard from him in over a year (in the case of Ultra Magnus far more than that), all individuals in the room recoiled slightly at the sound of Megatron’s grating voice.   
With a splash of static, the snarling face accompanied the audio and filled up the monitor screen.   
‘While I have missed our little…interactions. I have to say the toy you leant me has been most enjoyable’   
All noise dropped as everyone’s complete and undivided attention was placed on Megatron’s recorded message. Megatron smiled, as if predicting the reaction of his viewers, ‘May I never be called ungrateful, for I have taken full advantage of my time with your illustrious leader. I was feeling particularly generous this cycle, especially with the knowledge that Ultra Magnus has joined your fold, so I decided to share a small snippet of my time with young Optimus’ If anything Megatron’s hideous snarl of a smile widened, ‘I hope you take as much pleasure in watching this as I will in experiencing it’   
With that Megatron stepped out of frame to reveal the interior of a small cell. It was empty except for its occupant. Bound to the wall by statis cuffs on each wrist, Optimus Prime hanged limp and listless. Ratchet gasped in a sharp breath and Bumblebee’s door wings started to noticeably quiver.   
‘Wake up little Prime, don’t you want to say hello to your old friends?’ Optimus didn’t respond to the taunting, it was unclear as to whether he was offline, or intentionally not responding.   
From the corner of frame an arm suddenly shot out and stabbed Optimus in the chassis with an energon prod. The Prime arched off the wall, straining against his bonds, blue optics flickering. As quickly as it had happened, the energon prod was removed and Optimus slumped back against the wall. Megatron paced into view and grabbed Optimus by the helm, pulling his face up to meet his own. ‘This is why we can’t have nice things Optimus’ Megatron jeered, still holding the Primes helm, but obviously twirling the energon prod in his other servo.   
Optimus didn’t respond, again it was unclear whether this was by choice, or because he was busy heaving in air through his intakes. Suddenly Megatron seemed to soften slightly, even gently smoothing his thumb over the younger mech’s faceplates. While this change in demeanor may have meant to appear comforting, it only seemed to further agitate Optimus, his plating locking down, as he pressed further into the wall.   
Noticing this Megatron huffed slightly to himself, then shoved the energon prod into the Primes side, digging into the plating to reach the sensitive wiring. As Optimus writhed Megatron continued to slowly stroke his faceplate, his expression even appearing remorseful. After about half a minute of Optimus convulsing, his optics turning white and shorting out under the strain, and Megatron’s grotesque indifference Optimus’ pain, the prod was removed. If it weren't for Megatron’s ever present hand on his helm, Optimus’ helm would have dropped instantly as he finally fell offline.   
Megatron lowered Optimus’ helm and turned back to the camera looking disgustingly cheerful.   
‘Hopefully we will see you again soon, goodbye Autobots’ with a click the recording shut off, leaving everyone in horrified silence.


	3. Chapter 3

Ironhide responded first, his cannons humming into life, ‘That pit-slagging, fragging half-breed of a mech!’ he growled ‘If I ever lay my servos on him he will regret the day Primus spat him out.’   
Bumblebee shot out multiple strings of fast binary, looking between the older mech’s and the black screen, clearly frightened and alarmed at what he had just witnessed. Unfortunately his panic stricken questions fell on deaf audios as all three mech’s failed to respond.   
Ratchet appeared shell-shocked, and hadn’t removed his optics from the screen, while Ultra Magnus had adopted a stony façade.   
Turning to Lennox, who had started pacing, Magnus said loudly and calmly over Ironhide’s ramblings,   
‘Major Lennox, since this is clear proof that Optimus is still alive, I would ask that your request more resources to renew the search effort from the government’. Lennox only looked wide-eyed between Ratchet and Magnus, ‘Now major’ Magnus said with a slight edge to his voice.   
With a nod Lennox swiftly left the area, his hand already reaching for his phone to organize an appeal to the government.   
Ratchet reset his vocalizer and stuttered out ‘They haven’t killed him’   
Ironhide rounded on the medic, ‘Of course that twisted pile of slag wouldn’t let any mech kill Prime, he’s just being…hurting him this whole fragging time’.   
Bee’s door wings were shaking loudly, and his optics kept darting between the older mech’s. Ratchet looked over at the scout and sighed, armor deflating slightly, ‘Bumblebee, go and find Sam’. The scout seemed only too happy to comply, quickly darting out of the room in search of his charge.   
Watching the yellow mech leave, Magnus straightened, ‘I will need to give a formal announcement to the autobots, before any rumors get out of hand’, Ratchet cut in ‘With respect, I should give the news, you weren’t here when Optimus went missing, you didn’t see how it crippled us’.   
Magnus nodded sharply. Shifting his weight Ratchet looked at the blue mech with dimmed optics, ‘He’s a strong mech Magnus’.   
The larger bot turned on his heel and left, every plate of his armor held in ridged control. 

A short while later all the autobots had congregated in the main hanger, eager to hear the news.   
‘This morning we received a message from Megatron’ Ratchet started, when most of the autobots grumbled angrily and a few choice expletives were thrown around, Ratchet raised his hands.   
‘It was a recorded video showing Megatron…and Optimus’ At this the hanger erupted, questions were being shot in all directions concerning the condition of Optimus and what had happened, raising his voice over the noise Ratchet clearly said, ‘He is injured, but we believe that he is alive, Major Lennox has asked the government for more resources to continue our search and we will be hearing their answer shortly. Until then stay on high alert, but continue your duties are normal’ With that Ratchet turned and walked away.   
Bumblebee was nervously standing behind his fellow autobots with Sam next to him. ‘Bee, tell me, what happened in the video?’ Sam implored. Looking between the crowd and his charge, Bee shook his head then followed after Ratchet. Frowning at the retreating form of Camero, Sam resigned himself to just watch the remaining autobots jabbering amongst themselves in Cybertronian. After he lost the general gist of the conversation, becoming more confused than he already was, he wondered towards the human area of the base, determined to get some details.   
The human area of the base was little more than a cordoned off corner of the large hanger. While the bots could go wherever they pleased for the majority of the base, the human area was dubbed affectionately a “squish free zone”.   
It mainly consisted of couches, a couple beds in hastily erected rooms (if they could be called that), and a small kitchen equipped with a robust microwave. It was by far the most popular area of the base, possibly second to only the autobot training ground.   
Sam was just considering whom he was most likely to weasel information out of, when he smacked straight into a stressed Major Lennox.   
“Will, hey! Just the man I wanted to see” Sam said cheerfully. Lennox, who was juggling about five folders full of paper and two phones, gave Sam a weak smile.   
“Hi Sam”   
“You look like you could use some help” Sam said eagerly as he grabbed a couple of folders off of Lennox. Going to the top of the food chain for information was the easiest and cleanest way to know what was happening.   
“ah thanks, just…um, ok follow me” Lennox stumbled out, checking one of his phones.   
Jogging to keep up, Sam followed Lennox as he purposefully walked across the base, sticking to the outer wall and heading to the few human exclusive offices on the base. They were usually reserved for when Galloway was visiting, or some other government hotshot, who didn’t like Autobots looking over their shoulder as they worked. Sam figured what ever was happening must be a big deal for Lennox to use one of them.   
Nudging open a door with his elbow, Lennox slipped inside one of the offices, and promptly dumped his folders on the desk and collapsed in a chair. Gently setting down his stack of folders, Sam followed suite and sat down in the only other chair in the room.   
To Sam’s eyes, it appeared as though Lennox was having some form of a mental breakdown. He was hunched over the desk with his head in his hands; you might have been able to mistake him as someone mid-prayer.   
“Will, I was wondering if you would be able to fill me in on what has been happening” Sam checked for a response, when there was none he continued, “Cause I’ve been a good friend of the Autobots for years now and I hate to see them upset, Bee is pretty distraught and maybe I could help with that? If I knew what was happening?”   
You could almost taste the time slipping away as Lennox didn’t move, then, without warning he heaved in a breath, sat up and straightened his uniform.   
“As you probably know, he received a message from Megatron earlier today regarding Prime. Megatron seemed, smug. He was taunting us about not knowing where Prime was, and then he stepped out of shot and Prime was all strung up on a wall and just hanging there, completely out of it.”   
“Did Megatron want anything from us?” Sam interrupted,  
Lennox shook his head, “No, that was the weird thing, he didn’t ask for anything, or even threaten us, he just…He had this…Taser, I think, and he jabbed Prime with it and electrocuted Optimus in front of us, but that was all”  
Sam swallowed, completely stunned, “Did Optimus say anything”  
“Not a word the entire time”   
Lennox watched for Sam’s reaction. It was true that Sam had known the Autobots for as long as the rest of them, and he had a right to know what was happening. But in Lennox’s eyes, he was still a kid, and a civilian at that. Which was why he left out some of the more, disturbing details. Like Megatron’s creepy face touching.   
Abruptly, Sam stood up, “Thank you for telling me, but I’ve got to go…um, I’ll see you later”, and left the office. Lennox watched the younger boy go, then looked down at his desk. He had a lot of hoops to jump through to reignite the search for Optimus before the night was out.

And so the next few weeks continued. 

While still monitoring his scanning program, Magnus started to integrate himself into some of the bot-human training stations, and Lennox continued his efforts to continue the search for Optimus. Both parties were struggling, Lennox was stumped, he was attempting to prove that the video from Megatron was recent, and not created months ago. While Ultra Magnus was finding it hard to work well with the Autobots, his hard minded and direct attitude clashing with some of the more relaxed bots on base. Ultra Magnus was a fine leader, but he was not Optimus, and unfortunately, that was all the Autobots wanted at the moment.   
It was late in the afternoon, when Ratchet comm-ed both Ultra Magnus and Lennox requesting their presence.   
“We’ve received another message”


	4. Hello Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next message arrives, for Ultra Magnus it only seems to be getting worse.

Lennox sprinted to the command area, shoving past people in his effort to reach his destination. He rounded the final corner and saw Ultra Magnus and Ratchet standing next to each other, quietly talking in Cybertronian. Ratchet nodded at Lennox as he entered in room, Magnus looked at him out of the corner of his optic and then ignored his presence. Confused, Lennox hesitantly climbed the scaffolding to be level with the Cybertronians. It was then that he noticed neither Bumblebee nor Ironhide were present.   
“Do we need to wait for Bumblebee and Ironhide?” Lennox queried.  
Ratchet shook his head, “No, Bumblebee was…shaken after witnessing the last message, and Ironhide proved too volatile. I will show it to them if it is deemed appropriate”   
Helpfully Magnus added, “The only reason I am allowing you to be present is because you represent the humans on this base, and this message might prove helpful in convincing your government”   
Lennox swallowed and looked back at Ratchet, who shrugged, “I am a medic, I need to know the state of all Autobots at all times”   
Magnus vented loudly and adjusted his stance, clearly annoyed at what he deemed an invasion of his brother’s privacy “Just show the Primus forsaken message”.   
Looking at Magnus with a worried glance, Ratchet nodded and pressed a button on the display.   
‘Long time no see’ Megatron smiled at them through the monitor, looking quite pleased with him self. ‘Optimus hasn’t been forth coming about some…details. So I thought I’d give him a break and a chance to say hello to you all’   
Ratchet looked quickly at the completely still form of Ultra Magnus, then back at the screen, dreading what was to come.   
Megatron turned and exited the shot, revealing Optimus. He was on the floor this time, kneeling with both his arms drawn out on either side of him and bolted into the ground. Megatron prowled behind Optimus and placed his servos on the red and blue mech’s shoulders.   
‘Now is your chance, what would you like to say to your friends?’ Optimus didn’t move, only staring resolutely at the floor. Megatron ex-vented, shoulders drooping in mock disappointment, ‘that is no way to treat your dear comrades, did you know they have been searching for you? Wouldn’t you like to thank them?’   
Ratchet moved closer to the monitor, optics locked on his Prime, waiting for a response, some reassurance.   
But Optimus did not move a plate.   
‘Most disappointing my little Prime, most disappointing. Maybe I can…give you some help’ Megatron lifted one of his servos off of Optimus’ shoulder and unsheathed a blade from his forearm. Magnus watched as Optimus’ optics widened incrementally as he registered the sound of metal sliding against metal. Then with a strong, fluid motion Megatron buried the blade deep into the Prime’s shoulder. ‘Anything you want to say now little Prime?’  
Blue and red armor almost imperceptibly rattled as Optimus resolutely locked his optics onto the floor in front of him, it was an obvious that the younger mech was trying incredibly hard to not look at the blade protruding from his left shoulder. Megatron gave a little huff and brutally twisted his wrist to the side, tearing through layers of metal and sensitive wiring. After a bit of maneuvering backwards and forwards, Megatron seemed satisfied with the blades placement and smiled slightly to himself.   
For a moment Megatron appeared to be happy to allow the red and blue mech a moment of respite. While the young Prime hadn’t vocally made a noise yet, his plating was visibly shuddering and the rattling that could be heard along with his heavy venting easily filled the silence.   
‘You are being so disrespectful’ Megatron purred and he leant over Optimus’ undamaged shoulder, ‘What will the Autobot’s think about this appalling behavior?’   
Moving forward so that his chassis was flush with Optimus’ back, Megatron nuzzled his helm into the crook of the Prime’s neck. The smaller mech froze, the Prime’s intense stare broken as his optics flittered left and right in clear alarm.   
Magnus, Ratchet and Lennox mirrored the silence that fell over the little room in the recording, as they too froze, fearful of what Megatron would do next.   
‘You smell fresh little Prime, still after all these vorns of war’.   
With one clawed hand Megatron grasped Optimus’ face and turned it towards him. The Prime started to jerk back, now frantically looking at Magnus, Ratchet and Lennox through the camera and Megatron’s grinning face. Magnus started forward in reaction to the barely contained panic on his younger brothers faceplates, but stayed silent.   
As Optimus continued to quietly struggle, Megatron slowly moved closer. With a shriek of metal tearing, Megatron suddenly twisted the blade still resting in the Primes shoulder. As Optimus jerked, opening his mouth is pain; Megatron crushed their lips together.   
Keeping a firm hold on Optimus’ helm Megatron brutally kissed the younger mech. Kept from moving by the blade in his shoulder and the restraints, there was little Optimus could do to resist.   
‘You taste fresh as well’ the silver mech growled against the Prime’s mouth, pulling away. With a click Megatron retracted the blade, removing it from Optimus shoulder. He then paused, still holding the red and blue mech’s helm, he ducked forward the kissed the Prime once more on the lips, this time he met no resistance.   
Standing up smoothly Megatron dropped Optimus’ helm and sauntered towards the camera. Ratchet watched with alarm as Optimus sagged forward as much as his bonds would allow, he was online, but appeared completely unresponsive.   
‘I apologize on behalf of Optimus, it isn’t very courteous that the ruler of a planet refuses to talk to his loyal subjects, but don’t fret, I will work diligently to correct this…misdemeanor’ Megatron smiled pleasantly ‘I might even share our time together to teach our little Prime to be more humble’ The silver mech stepped back a couple of paces, putting himself next to the hunched form of Optimus. Completely unperturbed that the mech at his feet shied away from him, Megatron continued ‘Until next time, Goodbye’. Swinging one pede back, Megatron solidly kicked Optimus in the chassis, but just as he made connection the feed cut out. 

Lennox felt like he was going to be sick. He reached a hand out blindly and grabbed a railing to steady himself. From their previous encounters, Lennox always knew that Megatron was sadistic, but these videos and what he was doing to Optimus was down right fucked up. Shakily drawing in a breath, Lennox straightened and put on his ‘I’m in charge and I know what I am doing’ face.   
The first thing he noticed was the neither Ratchet nor Ultra Magnus had moved an inch since the screen went to black. He internally debated whether breaking the silence would be detrimental to his health or not. He knew from experience that sometimes the bots just needed a second or two to process vastly new information. But before he could do anything, an ear piercing alarm went off. Both Magnus and Ratchet stumbled forward slightly then straightened, looking at each other in alarm. That alarm meant only one thing, deceptions.  
Magnus was the first one to react, and had sprinted away from the console before Ratchet seemed to register what was happening.   
‘Where are they Ironhide?’ Magnus snapped as he arrived in the main hanger, already drawing his weapon.   
‘There are four decepticon signatures about 10 miles out, it doesn’t look like they know we’re here’ Ironhide responded, he cocked his helm to the side, listening to something on his comm. ‘And according to Dino they will roll right past us’   
The autobots and the humans in the hanger waited for Magnus’ orders.   
‘They are too close. We can’t risk them discovering our base’ without waiting for a reaction, Magnus strode towards the hanger doors and into the sun,  
‘Autobots, roll out!’


	5. Mistakes and Expectations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, i'm back.   
> No Beta as usual so feel free to message me with any spelling mistakes, if you can be fucked. I certainly couldn't be fucked to check it properly so no hard feelings.

The information regarding the location of four the decepticons was completely accurate, however, while surveying the clean up of the resulting fight, Lennox had a hard time seeing how any of the wreckage could have once been a decepticon. Following Primes disappearance they’re had only been a couple of decepticon sightings and a few brief fights. Consequently the Autobots had been helping the American government with far more calm conflicts.   
Stir-crazy and itching for a real fight, the Autobots had torn into the decepticons, ripping them, literally, to shreds. Lennox almost felt sorry for them, almost.   
The one down side of this sudden blood lust, was that none of the Autobots had the common sense to take a decepticon prisoner to interrogate them about the location of Optimus. A fact that Magnus was currently berating himself about.   
‘Stupid, pit-slagging half brained glitch’ The large blue mech growled, pacing back and forwards, seemingly oblivious of the bits of dead decepticon that was stuck to him.   
‘What would any fracking spawn of unicron have done?’ Magnus hit himself on the forehead, ‘Taken a fragging prisoner that’s what, and not torn them all to slag’   
‘Don’t tear yourself up about it, we’ll find him’ Lennox said, watching sadly as Magnus didn’t cease pacing.   
‘This is exactly the thoughtless idiocy that I was always warning Optimus about’ Magnus huffed out, ‘Of course the one time I monumentally frag up is when Optimus isn’t hear to witness it. I should be grateful that he wasn’t here; he would hold this over my helm for centuries’   
Magnus stopped pacing suddenly and dropped down next to Lennox. For a moment they both silently watched the clean up crew, dust swirling in the air around them and sun quickly heating up the ground beneath them. It was protocol to try and dispose of the decepticons as quickly as possible, which usually meant bringing them back to base for Ratchet to use as parts. Bit by bit, the broken shards of what used to be Decepticons were being loaded into the back of trucks.   
Magnus pinched his nasal ridge, ‘Has your government made a decision’   
Shaken out of his thoughts Lennox glanced up at the mech next to him.  
‘At the present time’ he faltered, considering his words carefully, ‘the government is reluctant to renew the search’  
Slamming a fist into the ground next to him Magnus barely contained a growl.   
Jumping harshly at the small outburst, the soldier quickly said ‘The problem is that they need evidence, my word isn’t good enough.’   
Frame slackening, Magnus shuttered his optics, ‘No’.   
Lennox toyed with the edge of his shirt, ‘Look, showing them some of the footage might be the only way’   
‘I said no Major Lennox’   
Nodding once, Lennox let the matter rest. He understood the large mech’s reluctance to show the footage, but Lennox was at a loss. The government valued Prime as an asset, the big guns that they could bully into solving their international issues with; Prime’s true nature, and importance to his own team and NEST wasn’t considered. Why waste resources on a missing weapon.   
The footage, no matter how harrowing it was, would be irrefutable evidence that Optimus was still functioning. The problem, Lennox thought numbly, was convincing an older brother to share the footage of their sibling’s torture to a government that wasn’t their own.   
They sat next to each other for half an hour, lost in their own thoughts and neither wanting to return to a base that was so heavily relying on them for leadership.   
‘Where is he’ Magnus whispered, Lennox looked up at the large frame next to him, incredibly wide, hunched shoulders and a helm that now reminded him so much of Optimus.   
‘I don’t know big guy, I don’t know’ 

Lennox firmly pressed the intercom button outside the med-bay. It acted as a doorbell as sorts, except that Ratchet could directly tell whomever he wanted to ‘frag off’. With a click the human sized door unlocked itself, and Lennox had but a moment to look dumbfounded, usually Ratchet at least yells about something before letting anyone in.   
As usual, Ratchet was sorting through medical equipment, setting parts aside that needed fixing or recalibrating. Not wanting to disturb the almost meditative silence, Lennox dawdled in the doorframe and contemplated just quietly leaving. Before he could act, Ratchet huffed air through his vents and motioned for Lennox to come closer.   
Scaling the human scaffolding around the edge of the room, Lennox approached Ratchet at almost shoulder level.   
‘What is it you want Major Lennox?’ Ratchet said calmly, seemly un-deterred from his task.   
‘The government wants some…detail regarding Optimus’ rubbing the back of his neck Lennox added, ‘It could help get the funding to start searching again’   
Ratchet’s hands froze momentarily, then continued their sorting, ‘Continue Major’.   
‘I’ve seen the videos, I just need to know what I can and can’t say.’ Lennox pinched the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes closed, ‘Anything culturally…sensitive’  
Ratchet didn’t move. Dropping his hand into his lap Lennox added, ‘And to be honest, a bit of clarification of what happened, or is happening to Optimus’   
With that admittance Ratchet turned and stared at Lennox, refusing to break eye contact Lennox stared back.   
‘I am sure your governments, no matter how simple minded they may be, are aware of doctor-patient confidentiality’   
Lennox sighed, ‘Yes they are Ratchet. However, on earth if there is a health risk to others, not just the patient, that agreement can be broken. In some cases this extends to information deemed important by the military’  
Ratchet narrowed his optics, ‘As the chief medical officer of an independent sovereign leader I highly doubt anyone in your government could pull rank on me’   
He was right. Wiping his hand across his face Lennox gritted out, ‘That may be so, but if it comes to a pissing contest about who out ranks who, we will only be delaying Optimus’ rescue’   
There was a pause as Ratchet slowly cycled air through his vents, dorsal plating shifting uncomfortably.   
‘Fine, but keep this in mind Major, what I will and will not tell you not only relies on my perception of how private Prime will be over his injuries, but also on whether or not I am even allowed to tell you sensitive information regarding our culture’   
At that Lennox felt confused, ‘Am I missing something here Ratchet?’   
‘A great many things Major Lennox’   
Shuttering his optics, Ratchet continued slowly, ‘the behavior that Optimus is exhibiting is completely uncharacteristic of him. He has been captured before Major Lennox, and never has he been so…un-responsive’  
Pausing to collect himself Ratchet continued, ‘Ultra Magnus and I have made the assumption that Optimus has been subject to rigorous behavioral conditioning at the hand of Megatron. This act would have taken months to start to take effect, judging by how Optimus is acting now, the videos must be relatively recent.’   
Lennox was shocked, ‘So your saying that, at the moment, we should be most worried about mental rather than physical injuries?’   
Ratchet gave a curt nod. ‘You can tell that to your government, though I doubt you will want to’ Ratchet said coldly, ‘if they did not wish to rescue a healthy Prime, I doubt they will make the attempt if he is damaged’, he spat the last word out of the vocalizer, optics flashing in anger.   
‘What can I say about his, physical injuries?’ Lennox cautioned, it would be better if he steered away from complicated PTSD discussions about giant alien robots.   
Ratchet thought for a moment, ‘the injuries Prime is sustaining, while painful, are not life threatening. It is more the suggestion of what Megatron is going to do that is meant to truly scare us, let alone Optimus.’   
‘You’re talking about rape’ Lennox said flatly, thinking of Megatron forcing himself on the Prime made him feel physically ill.   
Another curt nod, ‘Yes, but not in the sense that your species associate it with’   
Alien robots, Lennox reasoned, probably didn’t go about it the same way that humans did.   
‘Should I know…’  
‘No’ Ratchet quickly interrupted, ‘let us hope that it does not come to that’


	6. Morality yields to opportunity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this, if you a regular reader. If not, welcome!   
> Getting progressively darker, so be warned.   
> I don't have a Beta, so i anyone spots a grammatical/spelling error please let me know and i'll fix it.   
> Thanks again and enjoy the ride!

Megatron slowly walked through a dark and moist corridor, far underground a long forgotten mountain. Dust and dirt clung to his armor; coupled with the low lighting he appeared more black then silver, merging into the shadows on the tunnel walls.   
The steady thump of his pedes on the compacted floor was the only sound. That is until he heard someone running up behind him.   
Megatron paused, turning slightly to peer over his shoulder at the much smaller frame approaching him, twin red optics bobbing in the dark.   
Coming to a stop a respectable distance away, the small grey mech put his fist over his chassis and bowed sharply, ‘Lord Megatron’.   
Turning to loom over the smaller mech Megatron narrowed his optics, ‘What is it?’  
Keeping his optics safely on the ground, the mech responded ‘The Decepticons you sent were attacked by the Autobots. Before they perished a transmission was sent’ the mech shuffled his pedes slightly, ‘Ultra Magnus is on earth sir’.   
Megatron nodded to himself, ‘So Soundwave was correct, that was his ship entering orbit’.   
The little mech nodded quickly in confirmation.   
Leaning forward Megatron fixed the small mech with a sharp stare, ‘Were all the Decepticons killed?’   
‘Yes Lord Megatron’   
Straightening smoothly he chuckled, ‘Good’. The little mech shuffled his pedes again in nervous anxiety.   
Looking down on the grey mech Megatron tilted his helm, he did not remember the name of this soldier but it was of no importance.   
‘Alert Starscream that I will be sending another transmission soon’ Megatron drawled, flicking a stray clump of dirt off of his shoulder guard.   
‘ We will see how much longer it takes for that old mech to snap’ 

Magnus typed quickly and efficiently, almost entirely absorbed in his task. Reports, dull as they where to most mech’s, had an almost therapeutic affect upon him. It was clear lines of hard evidence, routine and familiarity. The data didn’t demand attention, or answers, only facts and statistics detailing an event long passed.   
There was no mention of what Optimus said before he was taken, no thoughts, no speculations; nothing on how it felt to be struck down and dragged away from his team.   
The typing faltered, paused, and then resumed.   
At this point, if an Autobot requested he recite the entire report from memory he would have been able to. Data, facts, statistics and evidence had meshed and evolved into a living, breathing thing that danced away from Magnus’ servos. Refusing to shine light on how, or where Optimus was taken; there was nothing of any consequence to be seen. He might as well have been reading a report on the Energon stores for all the useful information it told him.   
Magnus pushed away from the terminal, incensed. His younger brother, the Prime and leader of their small band of renegade Autobot’s was missing and there wasn’t anything he could do besides wait for the next message.   
If he had arrived on Earth, even a couple of months earlier, Magnus was sure that he would have gone mad and tore this very planet apart himself.   
A small knock interrupted him, and he froze to turn around. He hadn’t even realized he had been pacing.   
Ratchet stood on the threshold of the most secluded part of the base, which had unofficially become Magnus’ office. The medic had a sad look in his optic, and Magnus resented it. He was fine, alive and healthy at the base; being pitied by his friends, while Optimus was hurting and alone. It was unacceptable.   
‘What?’ Magnus snapped, drawing to his full height and flaring the armor along his shoulders.   
Ratchet either didn’t notice, or more likely didn’t care about Magnus’ aggressive stance.   
‘We need to talk about what could happen’, Ratchet said slowly  
Magnus huffed angrily, but before he could ask for clarification (though he knew Ratchet was talking about Optimus), the medic continued.   
‘Optimus will most likely be raped, or has been already’   
The room fell deathly quite, even the whirring of the mech’s systems faulted.   
‘We do not know that for certain’ Magnus said lowly.   
It was both painfully obvious and devastatingly condemning that this was not the first time Magnus had considered the possibility of rape. Megatron was maniacal, crazy, unhinged further by his resurrection; if Magnus could go by the culmination of reports from the past years, and fixated on Optimus. Vorn’s ago, before their war forced them from Cybertron Optimus had be separated from his squadron and pursued into the remains of Iacon by Megatron. When Magnus had found him, Megatron had him pinned to the ground with an entirely too sensual expression on his face. The only thing that had prevented Megatron from attempting anything was the close proximity of his soldiers.   
Rape was an abhorrent crime on Cybertron, punishable by deactivation. It is a gross overstep of boundaries that left a mech forever changed. Thankfully, the vast majority of their species is still repulsed by the concept of it; even the Decepticons.   
It had suddenly become an eventuality.   
Ratchet shuttered his optics, ‘You haven’t seen him’, he muttered, ‘In battle he will throw away his forces, leave them to defend for themselves, as he seeks out Prime’  
Magnus silently tensed.   
‘He’s obsessed, without morals and angry’ Ratchet met Magnus’ optics ‘He will rape Optimus, you need to come to terms with that so that we can save him’.   
Magnus clenched his servo’s but nodded reluctantly. Before he could reply a siren sounded.   
Ratchet straightened, armor clamping over his frame, ‘Decepticon’s again?’   
A feral grin spread across Magnus’ face, ‘this time we will take one alive’.   
Autobot’s and NEST personnel alike rushed out of the base, sliding into cars or slamming into alt-modes. Within minutes they had screeched off in the direction of the Decepticon, Ultra Magnus leading the convoy. 

Megatron strode through a darkened corridor, biolights and optics providing the only source of light. Two decepticon’s snapped to attention as the larger silver mech arrived at a door. Megatron hardly paid them any attention as he quickly unlocked the door and entered the dark room. Optimus Prime was slumped on the ground, unmoving till the Megatron delivered a sharp and forceful kick into the mech’s side.   
Blue optics stuttered, flashing on and off before rising to meet Megatrons.   
“How are you feeling today my Prime?” Megatron purred, sinking to be level with the blue mech.   
Optimus shuffled back wards till he hit the wall, glaring at Megatron but optics skittering away before he held his gaze for too long.   
Megatron slammed his servo into the wall to the left of Optimus’ helm, “I asked you a question little Prime”   
Optimus’ plating was held as tightly as possible against his frame, rattling slightly from the effort. He went to open his mouth, but closed it again.   
The Decepticon leader leant further towards his counterpart, “Optimus” he drawled, a lazy smile cutting his face plates.   
“You-“ Optimus started, but was cut off as Megatron slammed his servo around the Prime’s throat. Lifting the weaker mech off the ground, Megatron held him against the wall.   
“We have talked about this little Prime” Megatron said, pushing against Optimus till their chest plates were flush. He leant closer still, twisting Optimus’ helm to the side to nuzzle against his neck.   
“I do not like to repeat myself” Megatron mouthed against Optimus’ throat.   
Optimus shuttered his optics, wishing for a weapon, or at least his battle mask.   
The silver mech reached between their frames to palm at Optimus’ chest plates, revving his powerful flight engine in obvious enjoyment. The Prime bucked, pushing weakly at Megatron even as his HUD warned of dangerously low Energon levels.   
“Ah, ah, ah Optimus” Megatron chuckled, “I put a blade through your servo last time you did that”   
Optimus went limp, venting stuttering as Megatron wormed the tips of his claws between the protective layers of armor.   
Megatron hummed, pulling back from Optimus’ neck to gaze thoughtfully at the Prime’s chassis. Optimus stared at the ground, trying not to flinch as Megatron tapped absently against his windshield.   
“This will not do”, he finally stated.   
Before Optimus could even register what that meant, Megatron wrapped his servo around a chunk of armor and pulled. Optimus’ optics whited out, as he arched off the wall in pain. Throwing the chunk of red and blue kibble behind him, Megatron reached for another bit and tore that away too.   
Biting off a cry, Optimus writhed against Megatron’s servo, which shoved him back more firmly against the wall.   
Bit by bit Megatron tore at Optimus’ plating till almost his entire upper torso was bare to the protoform.   
“Much better” Megatron said, dragging the tip of one finger along the seam of Optimus spark chamber. The blue light of the Prime’s spark just visible through the thin layer of metal.   
Megatron dropped his hold on Optimus, watching dispassionately as the smaller mech slid down the wall. Curled at Megatron’s feet, Optimus wrapped both arms across his chest; hunkering down behind his legs and bowing his helm.   
With a chuckle, Megatron pinched an audial on Optimus’ helm, before turning to leave.   
Bending to pick up a discarded piece of armor, Megatron left the room calmly.   
He paused as the guards snapped to attention at his reappearance.   
“Do what you want with him” Megatron said absently, turning the piece of metal around in his servo, “But don’t kill him”.   
Megatron didn’t linger to see the hungry look on his Decepticon’s faceplates, and too deep in thought to appreciate Optimus’ yell of fear.


End file.
